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True Survival The Naked Bull survive without oxygen
The Nacktmulle is an extraordinary animal. There are many very special qualities in this animal. Researchers from the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) have found out that Nackmulle can survive for up to 18 minutes without oxygen. Survivors can even compensate for an extreme lack of oxygen for several hours, as the scientists report in the journal "Science". The trick: They simply change their metabolism.
Nakedmulle an extraordinary animal
The Nacktmulle is an extremely interesting research object for science, as they have a variety of special features. For example, nudibles with a maximum lifespan of more than 30 years exhibit exceptional longevity, especially given their low body mass. In comparison, a similarly sized house mouse has a maximum lifespan of four years. Nacktmullen also come out without sunlight, for which they have developed a special mechanism of vitamin D formation. In addition, the rodents apparently lack any pain sensation. Now there was another sensation. The not very handsome animals apparently come out for 19 minutes without oxygen. A massive oxygen deficiency can compensate for the nacktmullen even over several hours.
Survive without oxygen: The Nacktmull. Roman Klementschitz, Vienna - Own work CC-Wikipedia If oxygen is lacking in the animals to provide organs such as the heart and brain with vital glucose, they simply use fructose. According to Gary Lewin of the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), the research is the first proof that such a transition works in mammals. This was "a kind of natural adaptation of the almost hairless rodents to the heavy underground life in the caves of the East African desert". There they live together with up to 280 species. The animals have to dig for many kilometers to the roots of desert plants. It comes to stuffy and oxygen-poor environment. To find out how this effect works, the scientists have undertaken a study.
Survive without oxygen
In the study, the researchers exposed the animals to a very low oxygen concentration of 5 percent. The control animals were mice. These died within the first 15 minutes. The Nacktmulle, however, could compensate for the oxygen-poor time for hours, without causing any damage to health. By comparison, humans need at least ten percent oxygen in the air, according to the researchers, to supply the brain cells with energy. Oxygen is used to metabolize glucose from food to provide energy to the body's organs.
Now the researchers went one step further. They deprived the animals of the oxygen completely. Even then they were tough. Up to 18 minutes could withstand the nacktmulle, while the mice suffocated after 45 seconds. The Nacktmulle lost consciousness and lowered the pulse from 200 to 50 beats per minute. They fell into a kind of hibernation. If they felt oxygen, they woke immediately, their pulse regulated and they went on as if nothing had happened. "The health condition was undamaged, the researchers said.
In nature, such conditions can occur when many animals lie on top of each other, because the construction is very narrow. The lower animals fall into a twilight sleep, since the oxygen is no longer actually available. Only when the ball has loosened, they stand up again, as if nothing had happened.
Fructose and sucrose for the survival of the organs
Through this observation, the scientists came up with the idea to observe the almost blind and wrinkled rodents under oxygen-poor conditions. They wanted to find out how the animals perform this masterpiece. Thus, after the observation phase, the animals were bled and tissue samples taken. It became apparent that in the phases of hypoxia, the rodents released sugar in the blood. These consisted of fructose and sucrose. "Sucrose is so far only known from plants," the researchers wrote in the study report. "Specific mechanisms cause the animals to use fructose as an energy substitute," the researchers conclude. However, it is not yet known where the substitute sugar comes from.
Future means of survival after a heart attack or stroke
The scientists now hope that in the future acute hypoxia in humans to design a means that prevents a shortage of organs. "We would like to protect patients from the consequences of lack of oxygen, causing heart attacks or strokes within minutes," said Lewin.
In addition, it was found that the animals have other, very extraordinary properties that do not exist a second time in the animal world. For example, a research team led by Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov observed that in multi-year observations of large nude-mole colonies, no single occurrence of cancer was discernible. The reason for this is the special consistency of the cell cultures. This is stickier and more viscous than that of mice and also as that of humans, the scientists report. (Sb)